“The randomized phase III NETTER-1 trial examined the efficacy of the peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) Lu-Dotatate as a treatment for patients with midgut NETs, specifically in the small intestine and proximal colon.

“The trial recruited 229 patients with inoperable, somatostatin receptor-positive NETs. All patients had progressed on standard-dose somatostatin analog therapy and were evenly randomized to either 4 administrations of 7.4 gigabecquerel of Lu-Dotatate every 8 weeks, or a control arm receiving high-dose octreotide LAR of 60 mg every 4 weeks.”

“The radiopharmaceutical Lu-Dotatate (177Lutetium DOTATATE; Lutathera) demonstrated an unprecedented 79% reduction in the risk of progression or death compared with high-dose octreotide LAR (60 mg) in patients with progressive, metastatic midgut neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), according to results from NETTER-1 trial presented by Jonathan Strosberg, MD, at the 2015 NANETS Symposium.”

” ‘The findings were, in my opinion, extraordinarily impressive, the median progression-free survival improved by nearly 80%, which is fairly unprecedented in oncologic studies,’ said Strosberg, a medical oncologist and researcher at the Moffitt Cancer Center. ‘The finding is important because limited therapeutic options exist for such patients, who comprise 20% to 45% of neuroendocrine tumor cases.’ ”

“The NETTER-1 trial is the first prospective, randomized, phase III study for patients with midgut NETs, specifically those in the ileum and cecum. Patients in the trial had progressed on prior therapy with octreotide at 30 mg and had inoperable, somatostatin receptor positive tumors.”